The Other Academy Teacher
by SailorElfGirl
Summary: Kakashi-sensei has a crush!" Sakura squealed. "What! Who!" "On the Academy teacher, Naruto! Haven't you been listening!" "If he touches Iruka-sensei, I'll kill him!" Sakura smacked her teammate. "No, you idiot! The other teacher!" One-shot. Yaoi K/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Here's a one-shot that I'm posting. I don't know how far this story will go, but I've been experimenting with Slash stories and I thought I would give this little plot a try since it's been bugging me for a few days.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but any characters you do not recognize belong to me. Please do not use them without my permission.

Chapter 1

It would be another long night grading exam papers again, Touya sighed and gripped his mug of lukewarm tea tighter in his right hand as his left was busy splashing red ink all over one student's essay. The grammar mistakes nearly made him cringe. With a flourish, Touya circled the boy's low score and wrote that he needed _to do his homework in order to succeed on the test_. Touya doubted that his words would have any effect on the slacking student, but maybe a demonstration on what chakra control really was in class tomorrow would help.

Making a mental note of it, the Chunin teacher placed the test paper on top of similar red marked exams and diligently moved onto the other slowly depleting pile. Maybe if he had actually done these on time, he wouldn't have to do them last minute and at eleven o'clock at night. To be at the Academy on time with his teaching materials prepared, Touya had to be up in six hours. Another sigh, it looked like an all-nighter.

Touya put down his pen to stretch out his arms, his fingers reaching for the ceiling. A glint of silver caught the soft light coming from the lamp in the living room of his small apartment which made Touya glance at the silver rings that decorated his middle and index fingers. Plain, tarnished, and all around unappealing, the Chunin had had the plain bands for many years, but it was what was in the rings that made them special. He cracked his knuckled as Touya thought about the poison-master who had lined the inside of the bands with a toxin which released the deadly powder into an enemy's face due to a small, but powerful spring loaded contraption that only activated when certain pressure points on the ring were pressed simultaneously. Only meant to be used in an emergency, Touya had used only one, but it had been enough to get him out of a tight spot and he had got to see what the toxin actually did to a human being. Well…it wasn't pretty.

Touya lifted the cup of tea to his lips that had gone cold but took a sip anyhow even though his lips twisted in a grimace. He needed the caffeine in order to stay awake and finish grading. He picked up the pen again and snatched the next paper off the pile and began reading.

Before long, the clock on the wall chimed midnight followed by a loud thump that startled Touya into turning his letter C into a crooked O. Immediately wary, Touya jumped up from his chair with his hand settled on the kunai pouch tied around his thigh. The noise had come from right outside his door. When no one tried to bust down the door or crash through the closed window, Touya slowly relaxed his tensed up muscles and sorrowfully glanced at the last test paper with the giant O on top compete with a tea stain that was slowly smearing the ink into one giant mess.

"Damn," Touya whispered. "What am I gonna tell, Maya?" He questioned as he dashed to the kitchen to snatch up a rag to sop up the mess he had made of his drink. Tossing the wet rag into the sink, Touya glanced at the ruined paper. There wasn't a way he could fix it. He ran his fingers through his long, dark brown hair that was now tied in a loose ponytail that brushed against his lower back whenever he moved and looked over to the door.

There hadn't been any other noises, but that didn't mean there still wasn't an enemy outside. Or it could just be one of his neighbors getting home late. Or a stray cat. Or…why didn't he just get up and look?

Touya decided to do just that. With one hand still on his kunai pouch and his right finger fiddling with one of his silver rings, the Chunin silently opened the front door to his apartment and glanced outside with his penetrating ghostly blue eyes.

He waited a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the darkness before looking around for the source of the noise. You can bet Touya was surprised to find the neighbor from across the hall passed out on his front doorstep with the key to his apartment still clenched in his hand. Touya couldn't remember for the life of him what his name was even though they said 'good morning' to each other before Touya had to go off to work. All he knew was that the masked man with the crooked hitai-ate was a Jounin, and that he liked to read porn from what Touya had seen from the brightly colored orange book. That was pretty much it.

Oh, another thing that he could add to his list was that the man went on highly ranked missions that usually lasted for a few days. Touya always knew when the man left for missions; he didn't get his usual morning greeting. It had become sort of a routine and Touya expected to hear the silver haired man call out to him with one hand raised in a lazy wave and the other holding an Icha Icha book. It felt strange right now that the Jounin was quiet and that his eyes were closed in pain rather than a mysterious wink.

"Hey," Touya called out from his doorstep. "Ummm…" he couldn't recall the shinobi's name. "Are you alright?" No answer.

He might have passed out, Touya thought and abandoned his cautious nature to walk across the hall and check his neighbor's condition. Sprawled out on his stomach, Touya couldn't accurately check his condition, but he wasn't a medic-nin either. With a grunt, Touya gently rolled the –surprisingly heavy- man over. Yes, there were rips and tears in his clothing, but no blood. Internal injuries maybe?

Touya lifted his hand to unzip the man's vest, but stopped himself when a mortified blush swept across his cheeks. Was he really going to undress a stranger without his permission and right outside his home? But Touya had to see if the guy had any life-threatening injuries that would force Touya to take him to Konoha hospital. He didn't have the training needed to properly treat wounds. Maybe a cut here and there when his students accidentally nicked themselves on their shurikens when they first began using them, but broken bones or a ruptured spleen? He didn't even know what a spleen did! But undressing a man while he was unconscious? What did his inner, more morally situated voice say?

Touya shook his head. If he was talking to himself, then he was more tired than he thought. He'd leave a note. There, that sounded reasonable. His situation all figured out, Touya plucked the tiny, copper key from the higher ranked ninja and unlocked the man's front door. As Touya slung the unconscious Jounin's arm across his shoulders and wrapped his arm around the man's waist to steady him, the Academy teacher hoped that the Jounin hadn't booby trapped his apartment. But, thinking on it, the man was a Jounin, and everyone knew that all the Jounin were off their rockers. All of them had a screw loose somewhere. Touya hoped this one was just crazy and not paranoid.

Touya held the masked man tighter when he began to slide from the Chunin's grasp and heard a nearly inaudible grunt of pain. Looking at where Touya's arm had pressed tighter, he guessed the Jounin most likely had bruised or broken ribs. But he wouldn't know which until he actually got a look at them. Kicking the chipping apartment door open wider, Touya walked in and headed for the couch that was situated in the middle of the room. He would have put the older man into his own bed, but Touya didn't want to snoop around his home while he was unconscious, so a stiff neck would have to be a consequence.

"Geeze," Touya grunted. "You're heavier than you look."

And indeed the Cyclops was. He looked thin, but there must have been more muscle on him than the Chunin thought. Alright, ending that thought right there.

Gently, Touya deposited the taller male on the couch.

"Alright, Hazukishen. What do you do now?"

Touya tilted his head to the side and actually looked at his neighbor who hadn't moved from the sprawled out position he had placed him in. Touya couldn't understand the multiple love notes the ninja got from women on Valentine's Day. His face wasn't even visible! Maybe the mystery of his face made women fall in love with him? He shook his head. Like he would ever understand women. They were crazy.

Maybe he should actually check to see if his neighbor would live through the night. "Sooo…I know you can't hear me but I'm going to warn you just in case because I've heard that people in a coma can really understand what you're saying, but I guess you're not in a coma just unconscious. But isn't that the same thing?" Touya shook his head. Why was he babbling like a nervous schoolgirl? And Touya would know, he taught the shy nine year olds who had crushes on their instructor. It had been cute the first couple of weeks Touya had worked at the Academy, but after a handful of years of love struck little girls, the cut out red paper hearts wouldn't fit in his bottom desk drawer anymore. He also had to clear out his CONFISCATED drawer. Touya didn't think another kunai or blow dart gun would fit.

"Anyway, I'm going to take your clothes off." He paused. "That sounded weird."

Without another thought and the impassiveness of a medic-nin, Touya quickly unzipped the vest and lifted up the man's black turtleneck shirt to see if his ribs were either broken or bruised. If they were broken, then they would have to make a midnight trip to the Hospital. If not, then a quick wrapping and pain killers would be the solution. With gentle, steady hands Touya pressed against the ninja's chest. Nothing seemed to be sticking out and he didn't feel any breaks in his ribs. He would just have a colorful display of bruises and no missions for a week.

Touya left him alone for a moment in order for the Chunin to head to his apartment and dig out his first aid kit. As he pulled it out from the top cabinet from his kitchen and headed back to his neighbor he noticed how…bare the apartment seemed. Besides the couch, the only furniture in the room consisted of a table and one chair. Touya was tempted to check the fridge to see if there was any food in it, but decided not to at the last moment. The Jounin must not be home except to sleep. And Touya had noticed that no one came to the door except for the postman, so if the man didn't have company over then what was the point of having nice furniture or decorations in order to entertain guests?

He shrugged. Not his problem.

The moon shined brightly through the window and cicadas sang in the summer heat while Touya silently bandaged the Jounin's wounds. It had to have been one in the morning before he finished and taped the loose end down. He flattened his palm on top of his neighbor's chest and waited for him to deeply breathe in and out to make sure that the bandages weren't too tight or too loose. Touya hadn't been on a mission in a while where he had to provide field medicine, but it felt good to know that he hadn't gotten rusty while teaching junior ninjas.

Touya placed the rest of the gauze back into the first aid kit as well as some generic numbing cream that would hopefully work as well as painkillers since Touya couldn't get him to swallow anything while he was asleep.

He had to wake up in four hours and he was falling asleep on his feet. Maybe tomorrow they wouldn't have a demonstration in class; a pop quiz sounded like a good way to spend the day. After that…a long recess and then class would be let go early. Touya stood up. Or he could cancel class altogether.

The Chunin headed out the door with the kit in his hand. He turned around to check on his no-name neighbor who had lived across the hall from him for three years before closing the door behind him and walked back to his own apartment. Touya glanced around his home and couldn't help but compare it to Cyclops's. All around the wall were knickknacks from the different countries he had visited because of missions he had been assigned from the Hokage. A glass bauble from Wind country, a shell from Water country, and a naked dancing girl from…well Touya didn't remember where that one came from but he was sure that it had been a great night with plenty of sake and entertaining company. Scrolls and books littered a bookshelf that stretched to the ceiling and furniture that had been worn in from lazy days spent reading a book.

Touya looked around his room one last time before yanking off a blanket from the couch, opening the door to his neighbor's apartment, and spreading the blanket over the softly snoring shinobi. He looked…peaceful.

Right. Time for bed.


	2. Chapter 2

**I couldn't help myself! I just had to keep writing this story! Read it, and then tell me what you think. **

Chapter 2

The morning wasn't a pleasant one. First, Iruka hadn't shown up for his morning class, due to a prolonged mission, and the class consisted of eleven and ten year olds thinking that they were ready to graduate even though they kept stabbing themselves with their own kunai. It had actually happened and Touya had been very, _very_ tempted to let the kid keep bleeding as a lesson to the others that only _skilled_ shinobi should attempt to flip their knives in the air and then catch it in their mouths. Seeing it in a movie or a watching a Jounin (specifically Genma who sucked on a senbon which is completely unlike a kunai and the brat should have known the difference) didn't count as experience.

But, it was the Hokage's grandson and Touya would probably be out of a job if he let Konohamaru have a permanent smile on his face.

And that was early this morning, before eight o'clock, and after only two cups of tea. It was safe to say that Touya wasn't in a good mood. Did the junior wannabe ninjas catch their substitute teacher's foul mood? Nope. Completely oblivious. And they wanted to be ninjas…Kami save their souls.

Touya honestly didn't know how his colleague, Iruka Umino, put up with these kids. Touya worked with the younger children who were satisfied with a chakra light show and fancy flips with his shuriken and kunai. He also taught them rudimentary math, and taijutsu as well as the basics on chakra theory. Ninjutsu and Genjutsu were left to the older students because of their developed chakra system. Most children's chakra circulatory systems weren't fully developed until around ten years old for the average adolescent. All in all little kids were easy, and besides the occasional potty accident, there weren't any particular troublemakers.

But Iruka's class? The man was a saint. Never again would Touya make fun of the scarred Chunin. Instead he would bow down before his greatness along with a restraining order for the Hokage's grandson as well as his friends. Demons, Touya vehemently insisted. The whole lot of them were demons. Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox, had nothing on the little brats from Hell.

And Touya remembered the Kyuubi.

Sudden laughter interrupted the long-haired man's musings. Almost scared enough to not peek up from his desk and ignore whatever set the kids off (probably a fart joke which to a ten year old was freaking hilarious), Touya made the mistake of being a responsible adult and check on the class.

Honestly, seeing a naked woman with brown pigtails shouldn't have surprised him, so instead of freaking out Touya merely banged his head on the desk and hoped for enough brain damage to excuse him from teaching this class from the ninth pit of Hell.

He checked the clock on the wall.

Eight thirty.

Konohamaru better pray that he would survive until nine.

* * *

Fortunately, Konohamaru lived through the rest of the morning. With a little help from Touya's good friends, Mr. Rope and Mr. Gag, there weren't any more outbursts, but Touya was worried that his left eye would keep the permanent twitch it had developed.

When Iruka walked through the door later in the afternoon with a thankful smile on his face for Touya covering his class, the blue eyed shinobi merely shoved the class's pop quiz papers into the startled teacher's hands along with a whispered threat that Iruka owed him big time before nearly sprinting out of the classroom.

"Konohamaru," he heard Iruka growl before Touya was far enough away. He could only guess what punishment the –usually- gentle teacher would give him. Everyone in the staff room knew that Iruka had a volatile temper and _no one_ tried to get on the Chunin's bad side. The man was a prankster and he would gladly use his knowledge to make your life miserable. No one liked tea that turned your teeth purple.

Even though Touya was nearly asleep on his feet, he walked into _his_ class after lunch (he skipped it to hurriedly head back home and grab the graded test papers he had forgotten in his rush to the Academy this morning) and greeted his students with a smile on his face. He had never been so glad to see them before, so he cancelled the quiz they were supposed to have that day and instead sent them all outside for an extended recess. He had a full twenty minutes to recover from the horrific morning he had before he began today's lesson, but it wasn't until Touya was on his way back to his apartment, with his arms full of reference scrolls on elemental justu for tomorrow's lecture, that he actually thought about what happened late last night (or early this morning).

However, those thoughts quickly flew out of his head when he realized that he hadn't gone to the market in order to pick up some food. His cabinets and his poor beaten-up fridge were empty as well as his stomach and his belly wouldn't stand for that. It let out a loud protest as he unlocked the door to his apartment.

He glanced down at his growling stomach with a raised eyebrow. "Alright, alright," Touya conceded. "I'll feed you. Just give me a minute."

Tonight looked like a ramen night. And Touya had the time thanks to cashing in on Iruka's favor and made the man take over his shift at the Mission Room where shinobi handed in their completed mission scrolls and reported whether it was a success or failure.

After dumping most of the scrolls equally on the weathered couch and scratched breakfast table, he plucked only the most essential along with a couple sheets of blank paper to jot down notes. He took a minute to reach into an old clay pot that used to hold a green houseplant which had been given to him a few years ago as a housewarming gift (it died within the first few weeks he had gotten it) and took out a small amount of money to pay for his dinner tonight.

Another growl, that sounded like some poor animal dying, and Touya was out the door towards the Ichiraku Ramen stand.

**-----Earlier that morning-----**

There were alarm bells going off in his head followed by a chorus of whining from his students (in a surprisingly charming soprano) along with a somewhat catchy showtune coming from his chest. Out of all of his symptoms, only the last one confused him. Daring to open his eye, Kakashi slowly peeked at the source of the noise. The humming stopped.

"You look like something the cat dragged in, ate, spit back up, ate again, and then vomited."

Kakashi wanted to tell Pakkun where he could stick his doggy observation, but that required energy and energy was something that he did not have. He closed his eye again and proceeded to try and go back to sleep by snuggling (although a Jounin did not snuggle so he would say "getting himself more comfortable") underneath the blanket that gave off a scent that the Copy nin could only describe as "homey". It was in the middle of summer, but the mornings still gave off a chill so Kakashi could say he was quite content with the light cover over him.

The incessant humming began again.

He cracked open a gray eye to glare at his nin-dog. Kakashi grunted his displeasure. His eye closed.

Pakkun got the message, but ignored it anyway. "You awake yet, Hatake?"

A grunt.

"Okay, I'll give you a minute to figure it out." That tune was going to be stuck in his head the whole day, Kakashi knew it.

And what did he have to figure out? He obviously made it to his apartment last night, but didn't quite make it all the way to his bed so he crashed on the couch. The mission hadn't been a difficult one, but he had gotten ambushed by enemy ninja while on route to Konoha. No serious injuries - that he could remember - but that earth jutsu had given him quite the beating so Kakashi knew that his chest and abdomen would be sore for the next couple of days.

He had all his limbs. His chakra had restored nicely while he had slept. He watered Mr. Ukki, his houseplant, before he left. The Jounin honestly didn't understand what Pakkun wanted him to figure ou-he didn't own a blanket.

His eye flew open and he sat up quickly much to the displeasure of his delicate ribs, but they didn't hurt as badly as he expected. It was merely an annoying twinge instead of feeling like a surprise hug from Obito. He dismissed any thoughts of his former teammate immediately.

Kakashi blinked slowly, first staring at the blanket then to the laughing Pakkun who didn't seem to want to help his master to figure out what had happened last night. Automatically, his hand rose to touch his mask. Even the motion caused a small twinge in his chest, but thankfully his face was still covered which meant he wasn't molested while he had been asleep (hopefully). His Jounin vest hung over the back of the couch with his summoning scrolls still secure along with his pouch of weapons that had been wrapped around his thigh. Tilting his head, Kakashi noticed a stray piece of gauze tucked into the lip of his kunai pouch that appeared to have writing on it.

Without speaking, Pakkun nodded his head and jumped to the top of the couch to take the note into his mouth. Gently, he hopped back onto Kakashi's blanketed legs and waited for the still sore shinobi to take it from him. Kakashi caught the gauze between his two forefingers and hoped for an explanation on what happened the night before.

Pakkun pretended to be more interested in his paw rather than watch his master's reaction to the note. After the Chunin had left Kakashi on the couch, Pakkun had summoned himself to make sure that the scarecrow was in one piece and to see if Kakashi was awake so that he could make fun of him. The Jounin had finally received the attention he secretly craved from the quiet Academy teacher and he wasn't even awake for it. It cracked the nin-dog up. Oh how unlucky his master was. Although, Pakkun didn't quite understand why Kakashi didn't just claim the younger man to discourage rivals like real dogs did instead of staying hidden in the shadows.

Feh. Humans. Always making things complicated.

Kakashi read the gentle sloping characters in the short message.

_I saw you pass out. Undressed you (sorry) and treated your injuries. Keep your antics to a minimum for the day._

-_Touya, from apartment 3B_

The smile that spread across his face quickly turned into a frown. Touya, of course he knew his name, had undressed him and Kakashi had been unconscious for it…the fates were against him. He sighed.

Then he chuckled. Even in his writing Touya sounded like a teacher, or rather a mother hen Kakashi thought. But maybe that's why he…there wasn't a word for what he felt. Stuck on the tip of his tongue, ceded away in a dark corner in his mind, the word refused to be acknowledged because the last time Kakashi felt the same emotions he was feeling now…they all died. Everyone was dead.

Maybe…maybe the reason he didn't try to get closer to the Academy teacher was that he was afraid he might see the Chunin's name scrawled across the Memorial Stone. It was stupid. His fear unfounded, but it still held him back.

His ears picked up the slam of a door and the nearly silent pounding of a shinobi's feet as they began to run. Kakashi would bet money those hurried footsteps belonged to Touya who, based on the quickly rising sun, was late for his class.

"You've gotta meet your brats in an hour," Pakkun reminded him.

The wounded Jounin absently nodded, his drooping silver hair bobbing with the motion. His eye flickered to the window then back to Touya's message.

Gently, Kakashi cradled the note in his palm. Someday he wouldn't be held back by his paranoia, but today wasn't that day.

"They can wait."

Pakkun shook his pug head. "Not everyone will wait for you, Kakashi. Remember that," he said, then poofed out of existence.

* * *

The smell was absolutely divine. Touya's stomach agreed. Not even stopping to see if there was an open seat, Touya slipped right into Ichiraku's Ramen stand and took the first available stool which put him about two seats down from an energetic blond boy with an _interesting_ color scheme of an outfit. For a moment, the kid looked familiar, but his musings were quickly interrupted when the ramen chef placed a bowl of liquid heaven in front of the blond Genin.

Touya raised his hand and pointed at the bowl of what appeared to be miso soup. "Gimme an order of that, please," he gestured towards the bowl.

"Comin' right up!"

He nodded his thanks. Whatever he had carried with him from his mad dash from his apartment, he sprawled all across the wooden counter after he had inched a bowl of eggs away from his created workspace. While waiting for his food order, the teacher could at least get some work done that he needed for tomorrow. Flicking his wrist, Touya unrolled the technique scroll and went straight to copying down notes for his lecture.

_Based on which jutsu the ninja uses, the type and amount of chakra will be different as would the elements you would be to employ. The five main elemental styles are also the five names for the Five Great Shinobi Countries: Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth and Water. Each ninja has the potential to better utilize one of these styles and potentially more._

Touya paused in his writing sensing someone watching him. Turning to the side, he spotted the blond kid, with his mouth full of noodles, peeking at his notes without a hint of subtlety. He raised a brown eyebrow, but ignored him in favor of pure and utter perfection that is ramen that the chef placed in front of him, being careful of the teacher's mess of scrolls and loose paper.

Touya nearly clapped in excitement as he quickly tore apart his wooden chopsticks and twirled noodles around them. Both ninja at the Ichiraku stand hummed in contentment as they worked at their supper and let nobody interrupt them until every last soggy noodle disappeared.

The owner of the noodle stand shook his head in amusement at his two customers. It felt good to see two healthy young men enjoy a meal. It felt even better that the two of them would probably order another bowl which meant more money for him, but maybe this time he would let Naruto have a discount. That kid came here nearly every other day in hopes of a meal, especially when the kid was younger because the other villagers had kicked him out of their restaurants or had made the kid purchase only half-rotten fruit or vegetable and spoiled beef. He had seen the looks the adults had given him, hell he had given the Kyuubi brat the same glares until he had actually opened his eyes and saw only a poor, lonely boy who had no one in the world to look after him.

The man saw the same thing when he looked at the Chunin who paused in his eating in order to jot down a couple of sentences on his paper. Touya Hazukishen. He remembered that name, and he remembered that face, but back then it had carried a bright smile which was accompanied by its twin that adorned his younger's sister's face. Poor little Maya, her death had affected Touya more than he would acknowledge. Before her passing, Touya had lost his mother a few months before the Kyuubi attack which forced thirteen year old Touya to take care of his nine year old sister by himself.

No one in the entire country could have loved Maya more than Touya did. That boy did everything in his power to make sure that his sister had everything she could ever want, supporting her through her fast paced rise through the shinobi ranks. Making Genin at ten and quickly promoted to Chunin when the nine-tailed fox attacked, Maya had been a genius at ninjutsu which soon led to her promotion to Jounin at only fifteen. Touya put his own ninja career on hold in order to make sure his sister was provided for, with a clean house, money, and food on the table. However, her overconfidence on a mission led to her downfall not soon after she gained her Jounin vest. Nineteen year old Touya had not been the same since.

He may be just a ramen chef, but word spread faster in the village than a wildfire and he always kept an open ear.

"Another bowl, old man!"

The noodle stand owner shook his head to rid himself of past, painful memories and chuckled at Naruto's exuberance over his ramen.

"Sure, Naruto. One miso ramen coming right up!"

Naruto began singing under his breath about his love of ramen, the words not coherent because of the Genin's lack of knowledge as to what ramen rhymed with. The blond boy began tapping his chopsticks against the counter and his foot tapped out an accompaniment as he hungrily watched the noodles cooking in a pot.

Touya began humming as Naruto's rhythm caught on, but had to stop in order for him to cross out a few words and replace them with something other than _ramen is delicious_. The Chunin didn't think that that would flow into his lecture on elemental jutsus very well, but he guessed that all depended on if his students were even paying attention to catch the mistake. He doubted it.

Putting his limited artistic skills to work, Touya attempted to draw a diagram of the five elements with bullets to the side that explained each one.

_The five elements themselves form a cyclical strong and weak relationship against each other. _

_The element of Fire is stronger than Wind, as the usage of Wind merely increases the strength of Fire._

_Wind in turn is stronger than Lightning. _

_Lightning is stronger than Earth and Earth in stronger than Water. _

_Water finishes the cycle by naturally winning out over Fire._

He paused. Naruto? He knew that name. No wonder the kid looked familiar. Putting his pen down, Touya glanced at the fidgeting Genin who watched the boiling noodles as a predator did its prey. He grinned.

"So you finally made Genin. How does it feel to have your own headband, Naruto?"

The kid nearly fell out of his seat he was so surprised, but he quickly caught himself just in time before he completely lost his balance. Naruto whirled around so fast, Touya was surprised his head didn't fly off completely from his shoulders. Fox like eyes squinted at him in confusion and all Touya did was grin. If the kid didn't remember the teacher that had given him hell in his earlier years, then Touya would surely be disappointed that his sadistic, in his student's opinions, teaching methods hadn't worked.

It took nearly a full minute of staring before Naruto exclaimed, "Touya-sensei?! Ack! Whatever it was, I didn't do it! Believe it!"

Touya laughed when Naruto's first thought was that he was in trouble, which he usually was when the teacher spoke to him. "Don't worry, Naruto. I'm off the clock, so whatever mischief you've gotten yourself into you won't get into trouble. By me at least."

Naruto looked oddly relieved at that. But then immediately perked up at Touya's earlier words.

"Yup! You're lookin' at a fully fledged ninja! And soon I'm gonna be Hokage, just you wait!"

"I don't know about that, Naruto. If I remember correctly, I had to fight with you in order for you to pay attention to my lectures." Touya picked up his sheet of notes and showed it to his former student. "In fact, I bet you've forgotten all I've ever taught you about the elements. Hmmm, Naruto?"

"Hey! That's not fair! You're not my sensei anymore, so I don't have to answer any of your questions! So there!"

"You've got no clue."

Naruto yelled in defiance and stood on top of his stool to look down at Touya. "I know plenty of stuff, Touya-sensei! Especially jutsus! I even made my own! Here, watch this!"

"Hey! I don't want no-!" The ramen chef started, but was interrupted by the energetic blond.

"Oiroke no Jutsu!!"

If Touya had been eating any ramen, then he would have choked. Standing in front of him was a _very_ naked young woman with long blond pigtails and Naruto's whisker scars on her cheeks. She? He? blew him a kiss and winked. Touya's cheeks flushed red.

"_Naruto_! You're the one who taught Konohamaru that technique!?" Touya yelled, his anger nearly blowing back a shocked Naruto who had poofed back to his normal form and was now trying to hide behind a stool in order to get away from the scary Chunin.

"It took me nearly thirty minutes to get the class back under control after his little stunt! Do you know how many boob jokes I had to put up with for the rest of the morning?! If you were still in my class, I would slap you with a detention so fast your head would spin!"

Touya slowly sat back down and let out a giant breath to exhale all his anger. He looked around at the rapidly blinking noodle stand owner and his daughter and then to the cowering Naruto who had put his arms over his head in order to protect it from the swats that Touya had given him when he was younger and had misbehaved during his class.

After Konohamaru had pulled that little stunt, and after he had made sure that the Hokage's grandson couldn't do it again, Touya had wondered how he had learned it and had laughed at the…creativeness of the technique. And Touya laughed now.

"But you're a Genin now and I'm not your teacher, so get back up here and eat your dinner."

Naruto didn't move.

Touya chuckled. "I won't hit you, I promise."

Only then did the orphan pick himself off the floor to return to his seat. But his former sensei's assurances didn't stop him from keeping a wary eye on the shinobi. Touya-sensei was quick. Quicker than even Kakashi-sensei! Who knew what the Chunin would do?

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. But it only lasted for a minute before a bowl of homemade Ichiraku ramen appeared before him and Naruto immediately dug in as if it was his last meal.

Touya merely chuckled to himself. The boy had grown, but yet he hadn't changed a bit from when he was six years old when Touya had first seen the container of the fearsome Kyuubi. At first, Touya had been a little hesitant about having the blond in his class, but after the Chunin had seen that bright smile that covered up all the little boy's hurt and sadness then Touya had made sure to do everything in his power to see that Naruto passed.

However, learning was a two-way street. The pupil had to _want_ to learn, and Naruto had never even turned in his homework or passed a single quiz or test. At first, Touya couldn't figure out what was wrong, so he punished Naruto and forced the kid to stay behind in class and so his homework. That's when Touya figured out that he couldn't read. The great and fearsome demon child that all the villagers said was dangerous couldn't read.

Touya saw nothing terrifying about that. All he saw was a lost, abandoned boy and after Naruto graduated from his class and moved into the older children's class where they would actually learn to utilize theory into practice, Touya made sure to place him in Iruka's class where he knew the gentle, scarred Chunin would look after him.

The Academy teacher swirled his chopsticks through the yellow broth of his ramen seeking any stray noodle that he might have missed. Seeing none, Touya decided against ordering another bowl and turned to Naruto who was still happily slurping up his own ramen.

"So, Naruto. When did you graduate?"

The Genin tried to answer.

Touya grimaced. "Swallow first, please."

Naruto obeyed then answered the question. "Only a couple of weeks ago, but we've already had four missions!"

"Sounds like you've been busy."

Enthusiastic nodding. "Yeah! But the missions are really lame. I mean, watering an old lady's garden? Painting a fence? Bo-ring! I wanna do something exciting! Something dangerous! Like saving a princess in distress or guarding a famous movie star! That would be so cool! But Kakashi-sensei won't give us any missions like that," Naruto pouted.

"That's too bad, but _all_ Genin get missions like that. D-ranks are meant especially for you guys so that they prepare you for harder missions later."

"I don't see how pulling weeds are gonna help me save a princess."

Touya pointed his chopsticks at the Genin. "You've gotta start small. And besides, saving princesses is overrated. They're really annoying."

Naruto squinted his blue eyes at his former teacher. "You've never done that," he said.

"Afraid so."

"Liar! You're a teacher!"

Touya raised an eyebrow. "And that means that teachers don't go on missions? Sorry to burst your bubble, but even teachers are shinobi and get sent out...just not as often as regular shinobi. In fact, Iruka just got back from a mission this morning."

"Is that why he's not here? He was supposed to treat me to ramen, but he had to work late."

Oh. That was his fault. Before, Touya said anything more, he checked his wad of cash he had stuffed into his pocket.

"Well, for graduating the Academy, consider this my treat. Congratulations on becoming a Genin, Naruto. I mean it." Touya dropped his money on the counter and gathered his teaching materials. He waved goodbye to the wide-eyed blond. "See ya later, Naruto." And he left.

* * *

The walk back to his apartment was uneventful. Shops were beginning to close down, and the streets were slowly emptying of both ninja and civilians. Tomorrow would be a long day, and Touya would have to give that chakra demonstration that he had promised the class, after that he would have to find time to go to the market in order to pick up food. He sighed. Tomorrow already sounded exhausting and it hadn't even begun yet.

With his eyes drooping, Touya almost missed it, but at the last moment he stopped to see what was dropped on his doorstep. Folded nicely, was his blanket that he had let the wounded Jounin borrow the night before, or to be accurate early this morning. Tucked into one of the folds was a stray piece of gauze that had writing on it.

A smile quirked the edges of his lips as he bent down to pick it up.

_Thank you._

_-Kakashi _

Kakashi. So that was the name of his mysterious neighbor. Funny, it sounded familiar as if he had just heard it not too long ago.

Too tired to devote more than five seconds of thinking time to the puzzling situation, Touya shrugged and took out his key to unlock his door and prepare for bed. Tomorrow was gonna be hell. He could feel it.


End file.
